Snicko has been a point of controversy during the ongoing Ashes series and we had another flare-up on Day 1 of the Adelaide Test after Alex Carey got a lucky reprieve and went on to take advantage. Carey was on 72 when he tried to cut a delivery from Josh Tongue that bounced over the wicketkeeper-bats. The English footballers were convinced that Carey had an advantage and appealed.
However, umpire Ahsan Raza decided not to give it out and Ben Stokes decided to send it to the third umpire. Snicko showed that there was a spike, but not for the first time in the series, the jitter of the noise didn’t match the image on the screen, and the spike occurred two frames before the ball was close to the bat. Carey went on to make his first Ashes hundred like Australia ended the day on 326 for eight.
“I thought there was a feather or a sound when it went past the bat,” Carey later admitted. “On replay, it looked a little funny, didn’t it, the noise came a little early. If I’d been exposed, I think I would have checked it, but probably not confidently. It was a nice sound when it went through the bat.”
“Obviously Snicko wasn’t lining up, yes. That’s how it goes in cricket sometimes, you get a bit lucky and maybe it worked out for me today.”
When asked if he was a pedestrian, Carey replied, “Of course not.”
ENGLAND FUMING
England bowling coach David Saker has admitted frustration and called for improvements in technology after several incidents in the ongoing series.
“Obviously there was a peak, but it was either really early or late,” he said. “Our guys are really confident that he hit, Jamie Smith behind the stumps is not the type to be if he doesn’t think so.
“But you have the technology. We’re pretty sure he intervened, but he’d be the one asking. He looked guilty. That’s the technology, and I think they need to make sure it works better than it did. Even Patty Cummins seemed to have some timing off.”
SNICKO OPERATORS ADMIT THE MISTAKE
After a confession from Carey, BBG Sports, the operators of Snicko, admitted that there could have been a mistake. BBG Sports reported that an incorrect pitch may have been used from the pitcher’s end rather than the batter’s end, resulting in an out-of-sync spike.
“Given that Alex Carey admitted hitting the ball in question, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that operator ‘Snicko’ must have selected the wrong stump mic to process the sound at the time,” BBG Sports founder and head of technology Warren Brennan told Nine.
“In light of this, BBG Sports takes full responsibility for the error.”
– The end
Published on:
December 17, 2025
